Altmire-Critz race tests labor's muscle

At the United Steelworkers downtown headquarters here, an entire room is devoted to a singular purpose: defeating Jason Altmire, the Democratic congressman who voted against the president’s health care bill more than two years ago.

In a room next door are banks of computers, all of which will be used to make phone calls to voters in southwest Pennsylvania, urging them to turn out and boot the three-term Democrat from office in Tuesday’s primary.

The race represents a test for organized labor, which funneled thousands of dollars to Altmire in his successful 2006 campaign to unseat a GOP incumbent only to see him vote against the health care legislation. In labor’s view, the Blue Dog congressman betrayed them — promising them that he would support the law before ultimately casting a no vote.

Now, union forces have thrown the full weight of their political machinery against the conservative Democrat.

Critz, who was drawn into the same district as Altmire in redistricting, has the backing of nearly 20 labor groups, including the AFL-CIO and the United Steelworkers, which counts around 30,000 members in the district. Last week, the Working for Us Political Action Committee, a union-backed third-party group overseen by longtime labor strategist Steve Rosenthal, air-dropped nearly $50,000 worth of mailers and robocalls blasting Altmire.

Standing before workers at a pro-Critz rally at USW headquarters on a rainy Saturday morning, USW President Leo Gerard cast the race as a battle between a friend of labor who could be trusted and an enemy who could not.

“Those of us that have worked on the political issues in the last four or five years in the labor movement, in the labor councils, in the labor council in Beaver County, in the labor movement all over Beaver County and Johnstown had a choice to make and there is a reason why Mark Critz got every labor endorsement,” Gerard told those in attendance. “He got every endorsement and the reason he got every endorsement is because you can take his word to the bank.”

In an interview, Gerard said the health care bill was a defining issue for the labor movement and that he had been personally stung by Altmire’s vote because his organization had played a critical role in helping him win the seat.

“In our case, we believe that Jason Altmire cast the wrong vote on health care. We believe he should have voted with the majority of Democrats, and that he shouldn’t have done that,” Gerard said. “He gave us his word that he would vote with us on the health care bill and he reversed on that without talking to us. So in the labor movement, that matters.”

Gerard explained that Critz’s history as a former aide to the late Democratic Rep. John Murtha, a longtime labor ally, solidified the sense that he was on their side.

Labor’s involvement in the 12th District race underscores the still-lingering tensions surrounding the health care bill, with liberals still angry at the 34 Democrats who crossed party lines and voted against the law.